Acting company

BRIK BERKES* is thrilled to be joining the Colorado Shakespeare Festival this season. His regional credits include The Curious Case of the Watson Intelligence at Relative Theatrics; Charm at Salt Lake Acting Company; The Little Dog Laughed at Portland Center Stage; Proof, Glengarry Glen Ross, and Medea with Phylicia Rashad at The Alliance Theatre; as well as The Tempest, King Lear, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Sherlock Holmes, The 39 Steps, Around the World in 80 Days, among others during nine years with the Alabama Shakespeare Festival. His film credits include Kill the Messenger; Run, Ronnie, Run!; and Ruby in Paradise; his TV credits include Good Eats with Alton Brown and Foods That Built America. (1 season)

LANDON TATE BOYLE is making his CSF debut. His other credits include Big River, Henry VI: Parts 1-3, Macbeth, The Merry Wives of Windsor, The Pirates of Penzance, and Ragtime (Utah Shakespeare Festival); All is Calm (Alabama Shakespeare Festival); Kinky Boots (Arvada Center); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Repertory Theatre St. Louis); Romeo and Juliet (Redhouse Arts Center); The Wizard of Oz (Syracuse Stage); The Tempest (Secret Theatre NYC); and A Christmas Carol (DCPA Theatre Company). He holds a BFA in acting from the Sargent Conservatory at Webster University, and has trained in corporeal mime and contortion. (1 season)

TROY COLEMAN holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Colorado State University and completed The Second City Training Center Conservatory Program in his adopted hometown, Chicago. He has worked with the National Theatre for Children, was repeatedly killed with Defiant Theatre, and overcame modesty with Hell in a Handbag Productions. His favorite roles include Stephano in The Tempest, Detective Cole in Stop Kiss and Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet. He is currently pursuing a Master of Arts in theatre and performance studies at CU Boulder and is also a proud member of SAG/AFTRA. Offstage, he is a runner, vegan and animal activist who loves hikes with his wife and Westie Maggie Mayhem. (1 season)

ANASTASIA DAVIDSON is delighted to return to CSF after last being seen as the Ghost of Diana in King Charles III in 2019. Since moving to Colorado in 2016, Davidson has had the pleasure of performing at many theatres across the Front Range, including the Arvada Center, Denver Center for Performing Arts, Butterfly Effect Theatre of Colorado, the Catamounts, Curious Theatre Company, Miners Alley Playhouse and more. She wrapped shooting the feature film Publish or Perish earlier this year, and her voiceover and motion capture work can be seen in the graphic adventure video game series Life is Strange. Davidson holds an MFA from Pennsylvania State University. (3 seasons)

ILANA DEANGELO is originally from Marblehead, Massachusetts. She holds a degree in musical theatre from the University of Northern Colorado. Her credits include #14 in The Wolves and Lucinda in Into the Woods (The Little Theatre of the Rockies). (1 season)

JACOB DRESCH*, a classical clown who revels in repertory, has many favorite credits, including The School for Scandal (OffBroadway); Lend Me a Tenor, The Foreigner, The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Playboy of the Western World, Julius Caesar and Macbeth (Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival); The Merry Wives of Windsor and Measure for Measure (Texas Shakespeare Festival); The Comedy of Errors (Chautauqua Theater Company); and Twelfth Night, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Shakespeare in Love and The Great Gatsby (Orlando Shakespeare Theater). Currently serving as an instructor at the New York Film Academy and adjunct professor at DeSales University, Dresch received his MFA from the University of California, Irvine. (2 seasons) SARAH DUTTLINGER is thrilled to join CSF’s summer season for the first time. Previously with the CSF Educational Tour she played Brutus in Julius Caesar and Toby and Olivia in Twelfth Night. Recent roles include Feste in Twelfth Night and King Henry VI in She Wolf with Prague Shakespeare Company, and Front Range Fables with Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center. Duttlinger is an advanced-actor combatant with the SAFD and has recently graduated from Mary Baldwin University in association with the American Shakespeare Center with her MFA in Shakespeare & performance. (1 season)

TOPHER EMBREY has recently played Cliton in The Liar, Boxer/ Mollie in Animal Farm (Arvada Center); Sir Toby in Twelfth Night (Nashville Shakespeare Festival); Mercutio/Lord Capulet in Romeo and Juliet (Red Bull Theater); Dromio of Ephesus in The Comedy of Errors, Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Christmas Present in A Christmas Carol, and myriad other roles in Sense and Sensibility, The Winter’s Tale, Antigone, Cymbeline, and The Grapes of Wrath (American Shakespeare Center); Simon Fernando in The Lost Colony (Waterside Theatre); Ted in Peter and the Starcatcher and varied roles in Antony and Cleopatra, The Tempest, and Pericles (Orlando Shakespeare Theatre); and has appeared in The Merchant of Venice, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Julius Caesar, and Richard III (Virginia Shakespeare Festival). He holds a BFA in performing arts from Christopher Newport University. (1 season)

LOGAN ERNSTTHAL* has performed at the Colorado Shakespeare Festival in The Comedy of Errors (2011), Antony and Cleopatra (2004), Twelfth Night (2012) and Treasure Island (2012). His other credits include The Ladies Man, Road To Mecca, The Liar and Animal Farm (Arvada Center); General Store (world premiere), Our Town, The Joy of Going Somewhere Definite, Moon for the Misbegotten and A Beautiful Country (Creede Repertory Theatre); The Merry Wives of Windsor, King Lear and The Comedy of Errors (Riverside Shakespeare); Of Mice and Men (Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center); and Skull In Connemara (Miner’s Alley Playhouse). He hold an MFA from the University of Missouri Kansas City. (3 seasons)

GRACE GRUBER is honored to be performing with Colorado Shakespeare Festival for the first time. She has attended Camp Shakespeare for several years and has trained in tap, jazz and hip hop. Gruber previously appeared in BETC’s A Christmas Carol at the Dairy Arts Center. (1 season)

MATARA HITCHCOCK has worked in various capacities at CSF since 2019 and enjoys artistic and administrative theatre work. She is a member of the CU Playback Ensemble, saw her own play A Book of Common Prayer in the CU New Play Festival, and performed in immersives A Dickens Experience and Information for Foreigners. Other recent credits include Agnes (She Kills Monsters), Lady Katherine (Falstaff in Love), Miss Havisham (Great Expectations) and a swing for CSF’s King Charles III. She holds a BA from her time as a McDermott Scholar at UT Dallas and a MA/ MBA from CU Boulder. (4 seasons)

JO HOAGLAND is a third-year student at the University of Colorado Boulder, pursuing their BFA in acting with minors in business and French. Some of their favorite recent CU credits include the title role in Gallathea, Kaliope in She Kills Monsters: Virtual Realms, Escalus / Juliet in Measure for Measure and Lambchop in Climate Cabaret. (1 season)

WALTER KMIEC* is a theatre artist based out of Orlando, Florida. His acting credits include Much Ado About Nothing; Henry IV, Part 1; The Three Musketeers; and Snow White with the Orlando Shakespeare Theater, as well as title roles in Hamlet and Macbeth for Endstation Theater Company (Virginia), where he served as artistic director for two years. He holds an MFA in directing from Florida State University and does adjunct work for Stetson University. His directing credits include Cymbeline, Counter/Top (premiere) and The Importance of Being Earnest. His writing credits include a Shakespeare adaptation titled The Two Gentlemen of Virginia. (1 season)

KYLE J. LAWRENCE is a recent graduate of CU Boulder’s BFA in acting program with minors in music and dance. His recent credits include Rhys Thurston (Appropriate, CU Boulder) Billy Idol (The Wedding Singer, Northglenn Players), and Peter Quince (The Popular Mechanicals, CU Boulder). He has worked as an actor, director, singer, music director and teacher in various university and professional companies. (1 season)

LUCINDA LAZO grew up in Pueblo, Colorado, with an extensive history performing traditional Baile Folklórico dance. She is a thirdyear BFA in acting student with a minor in dance at the University of Colorado Boulder. Her recent credits include roles as Isabella in Measure for Measure, The Nina in Airness! and Lilith in She Kills Monsters at CU Boulder Theatre & Dance. She is the Dorothy & Carl Nelson Acting Intern for this year’s summer outdoor season with the Colorado Shakespeare Festival. (1 season)

SHUNTÉ LOFTON* is elated to be returning to CSF this summer! In 2019 she played Celia in As You Like It, Jess in King Charles III and Constance in King John. She spent five seasons working at the American Shakespeare Center in Staunton, Virginia, where she performed in 22 productions. Some of her favorite credits include Ophelia in Hamlet, Princess of France in Love’s Labour’s Lost, Celia in As You Like It and Lady Anne in Richard III. Her selected regional credits include: Chorus in Medea (Alley Theatre), Perdita in The Winter’s Tale (4th Wall Theatre Company), Esther in Intimate Apparel (University of Houston), and Anya in The Cherry Orchard (Classical Theatre Company). She is projected to graduate from the Case Western Reserve University / Cleveland Play House MFA acting program in 2024. (2 seasons)

CHLOE MCLEOD’s recent credits include A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Odyssey, You Can’t Take It With You (Colorado Shakespeare Festival); Anna Karenina, A Christmas Carol (DCPA Theatre Company); This is Modern Art (DCPA Off-Center); A Christmas Carol (Butterfly Effect Theatre of Colorado); Macbeth, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Romeo and Juliet (DCPA Shakespeare in the Parking Lot); Fun Home, Biloxi Blues (Miners Alley Playhouse); Bad Jews (Edge Theater); and Little Women (Aurora Fox). She is a teaching artist with DCPA Education and studied at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York. (3 seasons)

JIHAD MILHEM* is honored to be returning to CSF for his sixth season. He has worked professionally as an actor, director, playwright and teaching artist with numerous regional theatre companies in Colorado and around the country including BETC, the Black Actor’s Guild, the Arvada Center Theatre, Miner’s Alley Playhouse, Off Square Theatre, Theatreworks Colorado Springs, the Edge Theatre, and square product theatre. His play, Mosque, has been produced locally in Denver. He is represented by Radical Artists Agency and is a proud ensemble member of the Butterfly Effect Theatre of Colorado (BETC). (6 seasons)

GRIFFIN NIELSEN was exposed to Shakespeare performance at a young age with a dream-role of Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and has been chasing that high ever since. A year of indepth Shakespeare training at CU Boulder has helped pave the way for his CSF debut, and he is beyond excited to help bring to life the Shakespearean magic he enjoyed as a kid in the audience growing up. He will graduate with a BFA in theatre from the University of Colorado Boulder in August 2022. (1 season)

JORDAN PETTIS is thrilled to be joining this storied company for his first season. His favorite credits include Armado in Love’s Labour’s Lost, The Douglas / Mortimer in Henry IV, Part 1, Slender in The Merry Wives of Windsor, and Montano in Othello (Montana Shakespeare in the Parks); the world premiere reading of Scoundrel (Here We Go Winter Festival in NYC); and Carl Finnegan in The Incredible Hank (New Millennium Theatre Company in Chicago). His music and compositions have also been featured in several Shakespeare productions throughout Montana and Illinois. He holds a BFA from the University of Illinois and currently resides in Los Angeles with his soulmate. (1 season) BENJAMIN REIGEL* is originally from Wisconsin and has lived and worked all over the country. He has scores of credits at theatres from coast to coast including Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, American Players Theatre, Farmers Alley Theatre, First Stage Children’s Theatre, Aspen Fringe Festival, and the Oregon, Utah, Texas, Michigan, Maine, Wisconsin, and Milwaukee Shakespeare Festivals. He received his MFA from the University of Delaware’s Professional Theatre Training Program (PTTP) and currently resides with his family in Grand Junction, where he serves as associate professor of acting and directing at Colorado Mesa University. (1 season)

KEVIN RICH’s* recent acting credits include Pericles, King John and Edward III at CSF, and Murder on the Orient Express and Small Mouth Sounds with the Arvada Center Black Box Rep. Previous credits include the Illinois Shakespeare Festival, Chicago Shakespeare, Milwaukee Shakespeare, Shakespeare & Company, Kentucky Shakespeare and Portland Center Stage. He holds a BA from Grinnell College and an MFA from Yale School of Drama. (4 seasons)

JESSICA ROBBLEE* holds a BA in theatre and English from Davidson College and an MA in theatre education from the University of Northern Colorado. She performed last summer with CSF in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Odyssey and Pericles. Her other credits include Twelfth Night and Romeo and Juliet (CSF); Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune (Miners Alley Playhouse); Sylvia, Sense and Sensibility, The Foreigner, and Drowning Girls (Arvada Center Black Box); Frankenstein, All the Way, and Lord of the Butterflies (Denver Center for the Performing Arts); and Siren Song, Duck Duck Dupe, and Trunks: a live comic book (Buntport Theater for All Ages). (3 seasons)

CHRISTIAN RAY ROBINSON is elated to be back working with CSF. Most recently he was seen in The Legend of Georgia McBride at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center. His other credits include Ocean in a Teacup (Off-Broadway / Theatre Row); A Christmas Carol (DCPA); Native Gardens (Eagle Theatre); Shakespeare in the Parking Lot (DCPA Education); A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Odyssey, You Can’t Take It With You, and Richard III (CSF); Ragtime (Midtown Arts Center); The Producers and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center); and The Importance of Being Earnest (Breckenridge Backstage Theatre). His TV / film / VO credits include The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Plot Against America, Expulse, Yugioh! Duel Links and Foreward. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in musical theatre from the University of Northern Colorado. (3 seasons)

SAM SANDOE has acted with the Colorado Shakespeare Festival since 1970 and has done more than 60 versions of Shakespeare’s plays as well as 12 non-Shakespeare productions. He has also worked locally with the Butterfly Effect Theatre of Colorado, Longmont Theatre Company, Upstart Crow, and several seasons each with the Shakespeare Oratorio Society, Overland Stage Company, and the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park. Sandoe trained at the University of Colorado Boulder and the University of California, San Diego. With this summer’s production of Coriolanus he will have acted in every one of Shakespeare’s 37-play canon. (32 seasons)

GARETH SAXE’s* Broadway credits include The Homecoming, The Lion King and Heartbreak House. Off-Broadway and regionally, he has been privileged to work with Frances Stemhagen in Echoes of War, Jane Alexander in A Moon to Dance By, and Alvin Epstein in Nikolai and the Others. His other highlights include Harper Regan (Atlantic Theater Company); and Hamlet and Dangerous Liaisons (Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey). He appeared in the Denver Center’s premiere of Bonnie Metzger’s You Lost Me and at the Arvada Center in A.R. Gurney’s Sylvia. He is a proud graduate of Colorado College and NYU’s MFA program. (4 seasons)

MATTHEW SCHNECK* was seen previously at CSF in Love’s Labour’s Lost (Holofernes), Cyrano de Bergerac (Le Bret), Julius Caesar (Cassius), The Taming of the Shrew (Grumio), and Henry VI, Part 3 (King of France). Since relocating to Colorado in 2017, he has performed with Local Theater Company (Henry Award Nom.), The Denver Center Theater Company, Stories on Stage, and Curious Theatre Company. His other selected credits include London Assurance (Nominated for four Tony Awards), The Merchant of Venice (The Royal Shakespeare Company), and The Temperamentals (New World Stages, NYC; Drama Desk Award Winner). He is the author of 12 plays, has held academic appointments at Southern Oregon University and the University of Kentucky, and currently teaches acting and directing at the University of Colorado Denver while also serving as a teaching artist at The DCPA. He is a proud graduate of the National Theatre Conservatory. (3 seasons)

SEAN SCRUTCHINS* is an active teaching artist in the Denver area. He has worked as a theatre instructor for the CSF Education and Outreach programs and at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. He received his MFA in theatre performance from the University of Southern Mississippi. His previous acting credits include A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2013 and 2021), Much Ado About Nothing (2015), Henry V (2015), The Comedy of Errors (2016), Troilus and Cressida (2016), Cymbeline (2016), Hamlet (2017), Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (2017), Richard III (2018), The Odyssey (2021) and Pericles (2021) (CSF); The Liar, Animal Farm, Tartuffe, Bus Stop and Waiting for Godot (Arvada Center); American Son, Appropriate, The Whipping Man, and 9 Circles (Curious Theatre); 1984 (Benchmark). (8 seasons)

KAREN SLACK is a Denver local trained at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and HB Studio in New York. Some of her favorite roles include Medea (Medea), Lady Macbeth (Macbeth), Frida Kahlo (Painted Bread), Beatrice (Much Ado About Nothing), Vanda (Venus in Fur), Eurydice (Eurydice), and the one-woman shows 9 Parts of Desire and The Syringa Tree. She is a company member with Curious Theatre Company and has worked with various theatres throughout Colorado receiving awards and accolades for her work. (7 seasons)

RYAN OMAR STACK is making his CSF debut. He is a teaching artist touring in repertory for Shakespeare in the Parking Lot (DCPA Education), which includes roles as Macbeth, Romeo, Mercutio and more. Other local credits include Actor 5 in the world premiere Our American Cousin: A Nation Divided, D-Vicious in Airness, and Martin in 1984 (Benchmark Theatre); and Dr. Rosen in Jest A Second! (Cherry Creek Theatre). He is a volunteer CASA and resident artist at Benchmark Theatre. He holds a Bachelor of Arts from Benedictine College, with additional training through DCPA Education and as a Lewis-Myers Scholar. (1 season)

MADISON TAYLOR played her dream-role of Juliet in 2019 on the Mary Rippon Outdoor Theatre, as well as the ever-fierce Antonia in Twelfth Night. Her Off-Broadway credits include Roxane in Cyrano de Bergerac with Titan Theatre Company, and regional credits include Desdemona (Othello) with Montana Shakespeare in the Parks, and Maria (Twelfth Night) and Margaret (Richard III) with the Houston Shakespeare Festival. A few of her other favorite credits from Houston include Guildenstern (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead), Anne Whitefield (Man and Superman), and Beth (A Lie of the Mind). She received her MFA from the University of Houston’s Professional Actor Training Program and currently resides in Los Angeles with her soulmate. (2 seasons)

CHRISTIAN TRIPP is an actor, director, playwright and teaching artist. He holds a BFA in acting from Emory & Henry College and an MFA from the University of Alabama’s acting concentration. He is honored to be returning to CSF for his second season after performing last summer in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Odyssey and Pericles. His other credits include productions with the Barter Theatre, Camden Shakespeare Festival, Flagstaff Shakespeare Festival and UpstART Theatre Company. (2 seasons)

KATHLEEN TURCO-LYON* is pleased to join CSF’s 2022 season. Her Off-Broadway and regional credits include Prospero (The Tempest), Arkadina (The Seagull), Barbara (August: Osage County [Outstanding Supporting Actor; Pittsburgh Post Gazette]), Lady Bird Johnson (All The Way), Queen Elizabeth I (Elizabeth Rex), Merteuil (Les Liaisons Dangereuses), Chorus (Hecuba), among many others. She has adapted Henry James’ novels The Europeans and The Awkward Age for the stage, and Shakespeare’s Timon of Athens (with director Randall Stuart), and played the title role. She has developed Creating Character Through Gesture workshops for actors, based on the work of Michael Chekhov. She is a proud member of The Actors Center (theactorscenter.org), Dramatists Guild, SAG-AFTRA, and AEA, and currently resides in New York City. (1 season)

GARY ALAN WRIGHT* is returning for his eighth season with the Colorado Shakespeare Festival, where he has appeared in A Child’s Christmas in Wales, The Inspector General, Treasure Island, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, and a number of plays by William Shakespeare. His other acting credits include stints with Foothill Theatre Company, B Street Theatre, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and the Maxim Gorky Drama Theatre in Vladivostok, among others. He is also a writer, with screenplays optioned to Salt & Light Productions and Votiv Film. He is currently working on commission with the Palo Alto Children’s Theatre, writing book and lyrics for a new musical about meerkats. (8 seasons) MABEL, a sweet 8-year-old lab mix, was adopted as a rescue from the Humane Society of Boulder County. She loves long walks where she can sniff the ground and greet other dogs and people. When she’s not out walking, Mabel spends her days sunbathing in the backyard or in a sunny spot in the house. The Two Gentlemen of Verona is her stage debut, and she’s very happy to be a part of the Colorado Shakespeare Festival. (1 season)

ZEBULON, known by his friends as “Zeb,” lives with his puppy raiser Sharon Nuanes. Bred to do great things, Zeb is trained for service through Canine Partners of the Rockies and spends his days as a Facility Intervention Dog at DCS Montessori, where he works with his handlers in the special education and counseling departments. Ever the show dog, Zeb is honored to be taking the stage this summer in the role of Crab. (1 season)

All 37 plays: Sam Sandoe completes the canon with Coriolanus

Read the story by scanning the QR code below:

Photo: Sam Sandoe, Richard III, 2018